Land grant, clean-up needed before renovations to Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch can begin

TROY -- After sitting dormant for six years, city officials finally have plans to move forward with the revitalization of the Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch, adding it is the first of many improvements they plan to make the North Central and Lansingburgh neighborhoods.

Although the city received a $1,050,000 grant from the state Department of State in July 2008 with the help of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, the city's Planning and Economic Development Commissioner Bill Dunne said the city had to scrap its original plans. The money granted was set to expire in November, but Dunne said the City was given an extension till mid-2013.

"The money won't run out as long as we're paying attention," Dunne said.

The New York Army Corp of Engineers nixed and early plan devised by the Tutunjian administration, saying that boats would put too much pressure on the bulkhead near the shoreline of the boat launch.

Advertisement

"It had the access road into the beach area and back up out to President Street," Assistant Planner Andrew Kreshik said. "But the problem was it would have caused the boats to load against the bulkhead. It was too much pressure."

The new plan the city came up with condenses the site and only uses half of it, which Kreshik said removes any need to do construction on the bulkhead. Dunne said the new design was created by H2H Associates LLC, which is based in Troy.

Unfortunately, the city cannot begin work on the project until National Grid cleans up the waste left over from a manufactured gas plant in the vicinity of the boat launch.

This comes from a consent order by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. According to Kreshik, the waste from the manufactured gas plant was dumped on a site that Niagara Mohawk Power had later purchased. After National Grid took over the area, it assumed the liability of the waste.

"We've been working with National Grid on a schedule of events for when we need to be ready," Kreshik said. "So when the contractor hits the waste, they'll separate it, stock pile it and National Grid will take it and dispose of it properly."

The city also plans to re-grade and widen the area on Ingalls Avenue. However the city can't move forward on this project until two things happen. First, property owners adjacent to the boat launch area send a letter to the city allowing it to proceed, as the work will enroach on their property, and second, the city receives a land grant from the state, as it owns a parcel of the property the city hopes to renovate.

"We need a land grant because the state owns it since part of the land used to be underwater prior to any development," Kreshik said.

All of the permits from DEC are in place and Kreshik said the city hopes to get started on the project by next July. Dunne said the city also owns the parcel adjacent to the boat launch site where it hopes to redevelop the area.

Both the parcels were once part of Jack Cox's junkyard.

More clean up needs to be performed there as purifier waste from cement trucks left out in the area caused fluids, solvents, oil and other contaminants to seep into the ground. Dunne said it will be the city's responsibility to clean up that site.

"It's one piece of a bigger puzzle to bring improvements to North Central," Kreshik said.